Packing support for shoes



y 1940- T- SPENCER 2,201,746

PACKING SUPPORT FOR SHOES Filed July 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 May 21,1940.. 'r. SPENCER 2,201,746

PACKING SUPPORT FOR SHOES Filed July 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Fig. 6.Fig 5.

Patented May 21, 1940 OFFICE 3" TENT PACKING SUPPORT FOR SHOES ThomasSpencer, Waterfoot, Rosscndale, England Application July 13, 1938,Serial No. 219,886 In Great Britain May 12, 1938 2 Claims.

With shoes, slippers, sandals, galoshes and the like footwear and inparticular ladies shoes, slippers and sandals having comparativelyflexible uppers it is desirable to support the shoe internally forpacking purposes to prevent the uppers becoming creased or crushed outof shape and also to give a neat finished appearance for displaypurposes. The principal object of the present invention is to provide anew or improved simple and efficient collapsible supporting device forthe interior of shoes which can be produced at a comparatively w cost.

According to the present invention removable and collapsible internalsupports for shoes, slippers, sandals, galoshes and the like footwear,adapted to maintain the shape of the uppers for packing and displaypurposes and when the shoe or the like is not in use comprises a flatstrip of flexible material such as paper, cardboard, millboard, fibreboard, sheet celluloid or metal or the like of a shape such that theends of the strip can be joined to form a continuous band ofapproximately the same shape as the shoe in plan and outline. The endsof the strip are adapted to overlap, the overlapping ends being providedwith interengaging or interlocking parts to form the joint usuallylocated at the front but which may be located at the back or otherconvenient point the configuration of the blank being shaped 3Oaccordingly.

The lower edge which is preferably shaped to conform to the periphery ofthe sole when in position and inasmuch as the inside edge of the waistand sole is of different conformature to the outside edge of the waistand the sole, particularly at the waist it would then necessitate acorresponding protuberance on the bottom edge to follow the conformatureof the inside edge of the waist to obtain the desired support withoutdistorting the shoe but it is found in practice that the same blank canbe used for both. the right and left hand shoe or the like by folding iton opposite sides.

The blank may be shaped to leave an opening at the toe and/or otherdesired part according to the shape of the footwear to which it is to beapplied or to facilitate insertion and tongues may be slit therein whichcan be pushed out to support loose straps and it is to be understoodthat such tongues or the like may be formed at any desired part of theblank to engage the underside of any openwork part of a shoe, sandal orthe like. The invention will be more particularly described by the aidof the accompanying drawings wherein the same reference letters orcharacters refer to the same thing or part throughout the several viewsand in which:

Figure 1 is plan of a form of a shoe support constructed according tothe invention in the collapsed state of which Figure 2 is an edge viewwhile Figure 3 shows the support set up for use and Figure 4 shows theset up support applied to a ladies shoe. I

Figures 5 and 6 are views corresponding to Fig- 4 ure 1 and 2respectively showing a form of support for use with sandals.

Figure 7 shows said support in the set up position and Figure 8illustrates the same applied to a sandal.

In carrying the invention into eiiect according to one convenient manneras illustrated in Figures 1 to 4 and as adapted to form a packing mediumfor ladies shoes of the court type having a somewhat flexible top offabric, leather or other material, a blank a of paper, millboard,leather board, fibre board, or the like flexible material is out out toa shape in plan to follow the internal contour of the shoes b that is tosay with an arched centre portion a and the two ends, which overlap toform the toe, curved upwardly, one end a being formed with aninterlocking tongue b or tongues to enter a slot 0 or slots arrangednear the other end a The outline of the top and bottom edges a and arespectively are such that when the ends a a are joined as shown inFigure 3 the folded blank conforms exactly to the interior of the shoe,the midportion a being raised to correspond with the heel, the top edgea sloping to the front of the toe cap while the bottom edge a conformsto the shape of the inner edge of the'sole when in position.

As said shoe sole including the waist differ in shape on opposite sidesthe opposite sides of the blank are shaped accordingly, it usually beingnecessary to form a protuberance such as a to fit the waist of the soleon the straight side but inasmuch as the comparatively straight edge ofeach pair of shoes, right and left hand, are on opposite edges of theshoes comparing the same relatively to each other in position for use,then the same shaped blank can be used for both shoes of a pair byturning them about opposite sides.

With openworkshoes or shoes, sandals and the like of strap likeformation tongues can be slotted out of the blank at the back, sides orother desired parts so that said tongues can be pressed out to supportthe strap or other relatively loose part of the shoe upper, such anarrangement being illustrated in Figures 5 to 8 which show a form ofpacking medium or support for use with sandals. The blank (1 is shapedto form an open toe g as seen in Figures 7 and 8 by removing theextremities to form approximately square ends e, e and shaping the topedge 1 to conform approximately to the open part of openwork sandals.The arch h formed by the blank a when set up or assembled as seen inFigure '7 supports the instep strip or strap 1' of the sandal is,leaving the toe open and a tongue 1 is formed in the middle of the blankby slitting the sheet material, which can be pressed out to support theheel strap m as clearly seen in Figure 8, the ankle strap n then beingbuckled over the raised sides of the support so that all the straps arefirmly supported in the operative position for packing and displaypurposes and cannot be crushed or creased. The bottom edge of the blankis shaped to conform to the perimeter of the sandal sole in like mannerto the shoe support described above.

It is to be understood that the contour of the upper edge of the blankmay be varied to suit sandals having differently arranged straps orshoes of any openwork design and one or more supporting tongues providedat any desired point or points thereon. Furthermore such open toeformation facilitates the use of the same size support being used tosupport the uppers of diiferent sized shoes.

It is to be understood that the blanks may be formed not only ofmillboard or other fibre board but they may be formed of sheetCelluloid, sheet metal or the like and said blanks may be each formedwith one or more slots 0 two being shown in Figure 1 to receive thetongues b or with other detachable connections to allow variation insize, within predetermined limits, of the set up support. When thesupports are formed of comparatively stout material and particularly inthe case of sheet Celluloid or metal the shape may be varied a portionof the blank may be removed on one or both edges, preferably the bottomedge to facilitate the insertion of the support or to adapt the same foruse with a greater range of shapes and/or sizes.

By these means simple and inexpensive supports are provided for shoesand the like which can be used as packing to retain the shape of theshoe for transport and delivery to the customer or display, and which,if desired, may be retained by the customer for subsequent insertion inused shoes to restore or retain the shape of the same.

I claim:

1. A flexible sheet material support for shoes comprising a verticaltransversely rounded heel, an upwardly pointing push-out tongue formedin said heel to position and support loose straps of footwear, andvertical longitudinally extending side walls connected to said heel, incombination with a toe portion having a transversely curved upper faceall parts of which lie in straight lines longitudinally of the support.

2. An elongated flat flexible sheet material shoe-form blank ofsubstantially uniform width undulatory band form, to be folded in eitherlateral direction to form either a right or a left shoe support form,and comprising a central portion upwardly arched edgewise of said blankbetween the planes coincident with the side faces thereof, upwardlypointing push-out tongues formed in said central portion to position andsupport loose straps of footwear, and interlocking means integral withthe end portions of said blank for connecting said end portions inoverlapping relationship.

THOMAS SPENCER.

